Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. …but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men (1 Cor. 14:1, 3).

A comment made on one of my posts started me to thinking about something I believe—that God intends for His people to live prophetically.  To be honest, I do wrestle with some issues concerning prophets and the spiritual gift of prophecy because I have experienced some serious misuses of the gift.  However, the apostle Paul encourages the church to desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.

I think we need to start with a basic understanding that God speaks to His people.  Many Christians believe that the Bible is the revelation of truth and “the inspired, inerrant and only infallible and authoritative written Word of God” (borrowed from my church’s Statement of Faith—New Covenant Church, Hampton, VA).  I believe that.  Some Christians do not; they can consent to believing that the Bible is the authoritative revelation of God, but not that it is inerrant (which I think opens up a door to either believing or rejecting portions of scripture that seem difficult to understand or uncomfortable to accept).  Some Christians believe now that we have the Bible, God is done with revelation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit—I do not believe that!

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:7, 8).  We can only hear His voice is if He is speaking—and the Holy Spirit is speaking today!  Also, it helps to be listening…

The challenge is to quiet the noise on the heavenly frequency—the world, our flesh, and the enemy have persistent, demanding voices; fine-tuning our spirits to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit is no small task!  Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Psalm 46:10, 11).  If you recall the story of Elijah in his confrontation with God, he experienced an intense wind, an earthquake, and a fire—but God was not in the exhibitions of power; rather, he spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice.   Noise and distractions surround us and compete for our attention; modern conveniences hold us captive to news, to games, to social media sites, to entertainment—leaving little or no time to intentionally quiet ourselves and wait on our Savior.

Living in the presence of our communicative God has been an interesting journey for me.  I was brought up in a religious tradition that boasted their very own prophet.  She lived and wrote during the 19^th through the early part of the 20^th century and, although it was soundly denied that her writings took precedence over the Bible, the reality was somewhat different—I remember thinking I had to verify the baptism of the Holy Spirit through her writings before I could accept it from the Bible!  Looking back, I can see that letter trumped Spirit, legalism trumped freedom in Jesus.  I really do not want to write about that experience here but there are two very subtle beliefs which came from that church:  First, the gift of prophecy came to one person, who spoke for all—she was God’s messenger, she (supposedly) heard from God for the church.  Second, the powerful working of the Holy Spirit is stymied where people do not believe that God speaks prophetically to individuals, so no fresh revelation of God’s love or activity in the world is available to your average, 9 to 5 blue-collar worker, housewife, or anyone not included in a designated ministry.  I think it is interesting that many Christian churches decry emotionalism unless it is fear or anxiety.  Joy, rejoicing in the Lord, dancing before His presence is totally unacceptable behavior (I am just glad that king David did not get that memo!).

I have written several prayer journals—reading through the Bible one chapter at a time.  There have been moments during my prayer, meditation, and writing times with these journals when God spoke to my heart and told me that what I wrote was prophetic—intended to edify, exhort, or comfort those who may read them.  Honestly, I have written them primarily for my children, as a gift and a spiritual heritage to bless them—even though I have sold a few copies and given many away.  I know that much of the prophetic ministry of the Holy Spirit has come to me through stilling my heart and meditating on scripture.  The Holy Spirit has also been a bit of a tattletale when it comes to my kids—he has revealed things going on in their lives before they told me.  I believe I am called to intercede for these God-given gifts called my kids and the information communicated through the Spirit has helped me to know the words to speak and ways to relate to them.  Living prophetically within our families is one way that God uses to strengthen and build His church.

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.  And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28, 29).  The outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit is all-inclusive—no one left out; no one is exempt.  Every one of us is included, for the promise (the gift of the Holy Spirit) is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off (Acts 2:39).  The awesomeness of the promise is in the fact that there is no spiritual hierarchy in God’s kingdom—each person, each child of God is gifted with a unique destiny and purpose to serve the Master.  That is what it boils down to, really.  We receive gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can tuck a towel into our belt and kneel before our families, our communities, and God’s church to wash their feet, to be a servant and follow in the footsteps of our Savior.